Motion is movement

We tend to think of internal peace as that place where we are calm and joyous, or at least I do. Maybe everyone else has a better handle on it. Peace really isn't that. It can't be that because emotion is natural. Emotion implies motion when you use the word in English. A book on acupuncture pointed this out.

Emotions move. They change. Look at small children. They can be laughing one minute, hurt and sad the next and then the next, who knows? Emotions change. It's only as we get older that we tend to hold on to certain emotions and therein lies our lack of peace. We try and hold onto emotions that we think of as good or at least useful. We try and deny those that don't feel good or that we've been shunned for feeling.

That calm feeling of being centered that we can get during meditation and sometimes just during the day is wonderful. We should honor that moment but not hang on to it. As it fades, it should be recognized that it's doing what all emotions do--it moves. Generally the emotions come back. Letting go can be hard, even if it's just that nice momentary feeling. We won't ever get it back quite the same way but it will return to us again and again if we allow ourselves to honor and recognize that calm peacefulness in whatever guise it appears.

I've written about energy movement and feeling the full range of our emotions in the past. I think this time of the year to speak about it again as this is a stressful season and it's easy to loose the ties to our own internal peacefulness.